Hutin Britton

Nelly Hutin Britton, born on 24 April 1876 in Bucklebury, Berkshire, England, was an English actress who performed under the name Hutin Britton throughout her career. The daughter of Thomas Britton, she became particularly recognized for her Shakespearean work in the early twentieth century and appeared on Broadway in 1927 in The Wandering Jew.

Britton made her stage debut in 1901 with Frank Benson's company in Henry V. Over the following decade she took on a range of classical roles, among them Hero in Much Ado About Nothing in 1903, Ophelia in Hamlet in 1909, Lady Elizabeth in Richard III in 1909, and Lady Macbeth at Stratford in 1911. In 1906 she played Arganthael in Joseph Comyns Carr's Tristram and Iseult at the Adelphi Theatre. She also appeared as Nancy in Oliver Twist at the Shakespeare Theatre in Liverpool in 1905 and as Kate Cregeen in Pete in 1908.

In 1903 she married actor Matheson Lang in London, and the two frequently shared the stage thereafter. Together they formed their own company, which toured India, South Africa, and Australia between 1910 and 1913 performing Shakespeare. During those tours Britton played Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew, Portia in The Merchant of Venice, and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, in addition to reprising Ophelia and Lady Macbeth. In 1914, she and Lang produced The Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice, and Hamlet at the Old Vic Theatre. She also appeared alongside Lang in Mr Wu, the production that became his signature role.

Britton extended her work into film as well. In 1916 she played Portia opposite Lang in a silent film adaptation of The Merchant of Venice. In 1923 she joined him again in the silent film The Wandering Jew, in which she portrayed the character Judith. Following a four-year illness and a period of retirement, she returned to the Old Vic stage in 1923 for the Shakespeare Birthday Festival and appeared the following year as Volumnia in Coriolanus. She continued acting until 1936. Her Broadway appearance came in 1927, when she performed in The Wandering Jew.

In later life Britton served on the governing board of the Old Vic Theatre. In 1940, she and Lang were visiting their friend Dornford Yates and his wife near Pau in France when France surrendered, and the couple was compelled to flee through Spain to Portugal ahead of the advancing German forces. Britton died on 3 September 1965, aged 89, in Uckfield, Sussex, where her death was registered under the name Nellie H Lang.